


All I Want For Christmas

by naasad



Series: The 'Verse (Les Mis) [8]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Christmas Eve, Cosette And Enjolras Are Siblings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family, Feels, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Multi, New Baby, Polyamory, but they still have different last names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 17:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16580603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naasad/pseuds/naasad
Summary: A baby changes everything.





	All I Want For Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> This is a follow-up to [Twenty-Four](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16204886), but you don't need to read that one first in order to follow along. It also fits in with my [When They Met 'verse](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16240502).

The hospital bench was uncomfortable, and it was the first and last place Courfeyrac ever wanted to be on Christmas Eve.

Still, this was the least he could do for Cosette and Marius. Step back, give them space. He'd been doing that a lot lately. The baby had changed everything.

Would continue to change everything.

He closed his eyes and tried hard not to imagine changing diapers and rocking the baby to sleep as Cosette took a much-deserved break and Marius fawned over her as usual. He tried hard not to imagine the distance in his heart becoming distance in reality, until he was little more than a family friend.

He'd been imagining all of that too much lately.

He was already a terrible father, wishing they could go back - before the first ultrasound..., before the discussion about the birth certificate which was never resolved..., before the baby....

He cradled his head in his hands, blinking back tears. They'd barely touched him since the start of the last trimester. Cosette was too tired, Marius was too occupied with the bump.

He'd slept on the edge of the bed the last few weeks. They hadn't noticed.

He didn't know when he'd started crying.

A hand dropped on his shoulder and someone crouched down in front of him. "Fey, what's wrong?" Marius asked. "Cosette's okay, I promise. So's the baby. She's a girl, by the way." He beamed.

Courfeyrac chuckled, wiping away his tears. "I'm happy for you."

"Us." Marius' face fell. "Oh, Fey...." He cradled his head in his hands. "May I kiss you?"

"Please," Courfeyrac begged, grasping desperately at the hands on his face. It hadn't been that long, there was no reason for him to be so touch-starved.

Marius kissed like he always did - long and slow and deep, like you were the most precious thing in the world to him.

It just made Courfeyrac weep all the more.

"I'm sorry," Marius murmured. "I've been neglecting you, haven't I? I thought just one talk would solve everything, but we didn't even come to a decision, did we?"

Courfeyrac shook his head and pulled away, wiping his cheeks with his fingers. "It's okay. It's okay, having a baby is big, it's - It's okay. It's okay that it changes things. I saw it coming. Just Inigo, remember?"

Marius opened his mouth to say something, then shut it, taking a deep breath. "I think this is a three of us conversation.... But, Fey, I always love you and I always want you in my life."

Marius was incapable of being anything other than painfully earnest. Courfeyrac curled his fingers into his palms, trying to resist reaching out.

Marius pursed his lips. "Why don't you go see Cosette and Aurélie? I have to drive back to the apartment real quick and pick a few things up."

Courfeyrac nodded and stood. He rinsed his face in the drinking fountain and then walked into the room.

Cosette looked up and smiled, exhausted. "Hey. What took you so long?"

Courfeyrac perched on the side of her bed and smiled. "Just... Having a nervous breakdown in the hallway. New parent nerves and all that."

Cosette squeezed his hand and he knew she didn't buy it for a second. "Do you want to hold her?"

"Can I?"

"Of course. You're her dad."

Courfeyrac smiled sadly and glanced over at the bassinet.

And, oh, she was perfect.

She already had a full head of riotous golden curls, downy soft. Her copper nose was smaller than his fingertip, just slightly upturned like his own, and her cheeks glowed like the sunset. She shifted in her blanket and looked up, blinking slowly, flashing velvety indigo eyes that danced around the room, catching the light this way and that before coming to rest on his face.

It felt like he would never need to breath again. He reached down to pick her up, cradle her against his heart. Finally, he drew in a shaky breath, rubbing his thumb over her forehead. "Hey...."

Cosette smiled and leaned back against the pillows.

Courfeyrac turned to smile at her, tears in his eyes again, for an entirely different reason. He glanced back down at the baby - at his daughter. "Hey, sweetheart. I'm so glad you could finally join us."

Aurélie yawned, tiny pink tongue pushing past her lip.

"Yeah," Courfeyrac cooed. "It's hard work being born, isn't it?"

Cosette snorted.

"All these lights and noises and colors that you're seeing for the first time.... It's overwhelming, isn't it? But it's okay, none of it can hurt you. And even if it could, your mom and your dad and me, we would never let it. Never...."

There was a knock at the door and a nurse came in, closely followed by Marius.

"Here you go," the nurse said, handing a piece of paper to Cosette. He glanced at Courfeyrac and smiled. "I'll give you a moment before I take her again. Just the same tests as before, making sure she's all healthy."

Once he was gone, Marius came and set a small gift on the bed then held out his arms. "Let me hold her, I need you to open that box."

"It's not for Cosette?" Courfeyrac asked, passing over the baby.

Marius shook his head.

Courfeyrac raised an eyebrow but dutifully unwrapped it, not without giving it an obligatory shake first. "What is it?" he quipped when it made no sound. "A stack of condoms?"

Marius turned a delightful shade of red.

Courfeyrac's jaw dropped as he opened the unwrapped box. He picked up the silver band and tenderly rotated it, reading the inscription on the inside. _Let me be your shelter._

Marius handed the baby to Cosette and slid down to one knee. "Félicien de Courfeyrac, will you marry me?"

Courfeyrac turned to Cosette. "This is... okay?"

Cosette nodded. "You said that people will always assume Marius and I are together first, and you're right. We do have a bit of a real life Disney story, don't we? But you're ours, too, just like we're yours, we both love you just the same, and we want them all to know it." She handed him the paper the nurse had brought in. "This is my Christmas present to you. And it turned out good, too, with as much as she looks like you already."

Courfeyrac blinked and looked down to see himself holding Aurélie's birth certificate, his own name staring back at him.

He wept.

Marius wrapped his arms around him, holding him tight.

"I'm quoting Lilo & Stitch in my vows," Courfeyrac sobbed.

Marius pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "Good. Because we still need to talk, but I swear, we won't ever leave you behind or forget you. Never again."

The door banged open then and Enjolras hurried in, closely followed by his and Cosette's father. "Where is she? Where's my niece?"

Courfeyrac laughed and slipped on the ring before standing and slinging an arm around his best friend's shoulders. "M. Michel Enjolras, may I introduce you to my daughter: Aurélie Jeanne Fantine de Courfeyrac."


End file.
